Broke My Rusty Cage

Dish: Eyes always on the horizon.

I ended up getting a surprise free day off today amidst the 13 days of hell, making it 12 days of hell for me and my co-worker. Sweet. As of last night, I was still planning to have to come in so I based my morning on getting on the road to work by 11:15am. At ll:15 I was just pulling into the drive way from my morning ride and racing to the shower to clean up for work. 11:30 am and I'm heading out towards the work when my phone rings. Bossman said I'm not needed today and not to come in. Sweet.

The boys watch a deer as it runs off.

Back home I grabbed the pupples and headed out to the big city of Ashland City to check out the Cumberland River Bicentennial Trail. I had plans to ride there Saturday morning but those plans got canceled due to having to be into work earlier than initially planned. The trail is 6.5 miles along an old railroad bed with the latter miles gravel. It'll add a nice 13 mile adventure to a monster hilly back country road route there.

A bath house/welcome center greets you about a mile into the trail.

This tree is a little tea pot, there is it's handle.

One of the old truss bridges converted from rail to pedestrian traffic use.

Since the weekend daylight hours are truncated due to the work schedule, I'm planning to shoot out with a bike after work Sunday to investigate the full length of the trail. The pups and I jogged/walked 4.5 miles of it but didn't make it out to the dam or the gravel sections. We did make it out to the lake though.



Bike stuff:

I rode the Moots SS set up with the WW LT 2.55 front and Ignitor 2.35 back setup on the road today since time was (or so I thought at the time) short and I wanted to get a good mtb ride in despite the lack of dry dirt around here. I'm not sure if it's just my lack of fitness or the heft of the tires, but the hills had a little extra sting in the legs today. I must say that I might actually like the WW LT 2.55 tire despite it's inertia stealing climbing. It feels as though it's going to loose traction in fast turns, even on scree coated old pavement roads, but if you trust it and lean it, it hooks up securely and drives you through the turn. I had a few "Oh Shite!" moments on some 45mph+ downhill turns only to end up pushing the tire harder as I grew accustomed to the bite.

Granted that was pavement (loose scree covered rough pavement, but pavement none the less).

I had to release Crow from the barn upon my return to the house and rode the bike down the muddy gravel and grass to the barn. Despite the sludge feeling on the climbs (which could just be lack of fitness), the bike carried momentum and felt more svelte off road. I really can't wait to try it off road to see if it'll be a keeper or not. I might need a wider rim as it is a bit squirmy feeling on my XR4.D, but the cush is nice.

I've got plans for a hike with the Slumlords and the pups later today in the back woods. If the trail isn't mucky I might take the Moots out and test out the tire on some singletrack climbs, downhills, and rock gardens.

Any fans of the WW LT 2.55 out there for XC riding/racing?